Grey Wolf
Basic Information Name: Grey Wolf Concept: Eclipse Generalist Player: Jtuxyan Contact Info AIM: Jtuxyan Email: tfm43@cornell.edu Motivation: Convince his true love to marry him. Exalt Type: Solar Exalted Caste: Eclipse Age: 20 Anima: Bronze, Ravens and Doves. History Grey Wolf started as an Immaculate Monk. Not a real monk, of course -- he was no Dragonblood. But one of their mortal followers. He was born on the threshold, where the monastery preached to the masses and slew the Lunar menace, his villages mighty shield against evil in a dangerous East. When he came of age, he shaved his head and asked to join their number, and was taken. He had little in the way of family -- a father who left when he was young and a mother who didn't care for him -- and so immersed himself in the Immaculate Philosophy as his new world. His quiet, frugal way made him well suited for the life of a monk, reading and transcribing texts at night and learning martial arts during the day. He proved adept and talented, and even distinguished himself in a Wyld Hunt, risking his life to distract a Lunar at a critical moment so the noble Dragonblooded could slay the ogre. Although he would clearly never be anything but mortal, he had the monks respect as much as any human could, and he was allowed to study the occult texts -- to one day become a thaumage of the Realm so that he could banish spirits of evil and assist his Dragonblooded masters. It was a responsibility he accepted as he accepted all things -- quietly, and reasonably, happy for the opportunity to better himself. In order to learn the thaumage's arts, he would need to journey to the greater monastery in Nexus, where the rarest of things -- an Immaculate Sorcerer -- would enlighten his Essence so he could learn the magical craft. She would open a new world for him, he was told, moving his soul that much closer to the Elemental Dragons. He was expecting an old, wizened mage -- or perhaps a wise monk, indistinguishable from the others. He found something else entirely. Her name was Tahi Yar. To everyone else, she was a distinguished figure -- a dragonblood of the purest breeding, her hair red, the fire in her soul reflected in her eyes. A master of the Immaculate style of fire and Terrestrial Circle Sorcerery, she was respected and feared even among exalts. With two lunars kills to her name -- one of them solo -- her rising star had already eclipsed many more experienced hunters. Injured in a Wyld Hunt -- left walking with a limp until he leg recovered -- she had returned to Nexus to reflect on what she has learned, and on the nature of the dragons above. While she was there, she acted to train mortal thaumages. A talented, powerful monk, but nothing more. To Grey Wolf, she was perfection incarnate upon Creation. It wasn't love at first sight -- how could you know someone by something so trivial as their appearance -- but the more he got to know her the more infatuated he became. When he looked at her, he saw beauty -- a razor wit and passionate soul, a creature of depth and might. All dragonblooded have the power to awe mortals with their magic, but she was the first he felt truly deserved it by more then just birthright. She was mysterious -- exotic, wonderful. And sworn to celibacy as part of her duty to the Immaculate Order. As was he. He founds reasons to delay his departure back to his home village -- dragged his feet in lessons, suggested alternate uses for her time, got involved in local preaching to the masses and charity. He even used his powers of mortal magic to cause an accident once -- a wind that blew the magical library to pieces, leaving all sorcerers and thaumage's occupied for weeks putting it back together. During that time, he came to know her better -- and made sure she got to know him as well, spending as much time with her as possible. Weeks stretched into months -- a low ranking, poor monk with a weakness for faerie drugs was bribed to officially take Grey Wolf on as part of his Wyld Hunt and then leave him to his own devices. She soon came to see him as a wonderfully talented, friendly mortal -- but just a mortal, never her true equal. He chipped away at her perceptions with his attentions and gentle diplomacy, until at last he was sure she cared for him in return, though neither of them could so much as breath a word of it on the temple grounds -- sorcerers were always watched more closely then the others, lest they fall to demonic influence. It took time, effort, and all the money and drugs he could beat out of criminals as bribes, but he managed to get both of them assigned on a task outside the monastery, alone. It was there that he took her hand and professed his love for her, asking her to break her vows and run away with him, for as long as he would live. She hesitated -- she fought herself within -- but in the end, she took his hand in return, and with the fiery passion he'd come to love, pulled him against her and accepted. It was the greatest moment of his life -- the culmination of ages of effort, observation, and gentle diplomacy. And at that moment, he exalted as one of the Eclipse Caste. She was shocked -- he was horrified. It was she who recovered sooner -- dropping into a kata to destroy the monster while it was still weak. Panicked and confused, Grey Wolf fled -- the surge of strength that comes with exaltation letting him escape away into the night, loosing her and the resultant Wyld Hunt. Fearing that she would never -- could never -- give him another chance, he fell to despair. He had exalted as one of the Deceivers, she must think that everything he told her was a lie to get her to break her vows -- a manipulation of such cruelty that the demon-gods had chosen to take him as one of their own. He cursed the heavens and from despair fell to rage, working a fiery, bloody trail across the landscape until exhaustion took him, the exalt collapsing into sleep. When he awoke, there was something there there was not before -- a hearthstone, red and glowing. When he took it, his magic was stronger, and he felt a strange urge -- a tug, pulling him into the north. With no other direction in his life, he followed it. He expected a faerie or demon trap, seeking death where it would come for him so that the world would be free of whatever evil caused his soul to be so marked. He walked -- for half a year, out of the East and into the North. He fought his way past the Tear Eater Tribes and the blood god, met the Bull of the North and took his council before proceeding on. He fled from the Immaculate Monks of Diamond Hearth, and walked the tunnels of the Dragon Kings of old in the mountains. It was in the ice and the cold of the north -- in the realms where dreams are real and fae hold domain over even the Lawgivers, that he found his manse. Within, tutors left by his first age self told him of all that he was. Of his deeds in ages past, of his destiny, his power -- of what being a Solar really means, and of the Unconquered Sun. He learned all they would teach him, and the greif lifted from his soul. His situation was not hopeless -- nothing was, now. He'd return to Creation, he'd become a hero! He'd prove that this was not a mark of evil and that he was destined to do great things! And when it was done -- when none in Creation could call him a monster, he'd return to Nexus and meet her again, and run away with her not as a mortal, to fade away while she remained young forever, but as an equal. The way the gods planned it when they exalted him. Appearance and Personality It's not hard to see where Grey Wolf got his name. It's unclear if he was blessed with highly unlikely genetics, or if he saw a theme going and just went for it, but his color scheme likes somewhere between black and white. His hair is grey with touches of brown at the edges which -- combined with his tendency to tilt his head slightly to the side when he is confused -- evokes nothing so much as the image of a grey wolfs fur. Were he really lupine, his eyes would run from gold to orange, but they are a perfectly mundane blue he usually covers up with dark glasses. By far the strangest part of his appearance is his anima banner. When it flares, only the faintest of gold auras appear. The real manifestation of his anima banner is strange, thematic events -- usually tied into doves, ravens, and bronze. In manner and bearing, he's not as fiery as one might expect of an exalt. He keeps a frugal lifestyle by choice, but not a spartan one. He keeps servants and minions when needed, but does not seek them for their own sake. He arises early every morning to practice his kata's but seems to have no great martial prowess. If one had to describe him in a single word, it would be "unassuming" -- perhaps even quiet. The exalt does not like conflict, and when pushed, will tend too back down rather then allow a confrontation. All that changes however, when something he loves is threatened. When his life is in danger, he retreats. When his loved ones are in danger, he attacks. Those who invoke the exalts Compassion find themselves facing a very different beast from the quiet, scholarly solar. His words become aggressive -- his tone clipped, his eyes narrow and filled with contempt. The creatures in his anima banner hiss and snap with agitation. His manner is not of the warrior -- seeking conquest for it's own sake. But of one who has lost too much -- and will never let it happen again. He strikes not with his usual academic detachment, but with a mix of pain and rage. Seeing someone willingly abandon a loved one or someone under their protection also brings this demon to the surface, for a true coward is the one thing he will not broke. When the threat is ended, this mood passes quickly and he goes back to his old friendly self. Attributes Physical (Tertiary) Strength 3 Dexterity 5 Stamina 3 Social (Primary) Charisma 4 Manipulation 1 Appearance 2 Mental (Secondary) Perception 3 Intelligence 3 Wits 3 Abilities DAWN Archery 4 Martial Arts 5 (+3 Guns) Melee Thrown War 2 (+3 All-Exalt Units) ZENITH Integrity Performance 0 Presence 3 Resistance Survival TWILIGHT Craft Skills Craft (Air) 0 Craft (Earth) 0 Craft (Fire) 0 Craft (Water) 0 Craft (Wood) 0 Investigation Lore 4 Medicine Occult 1 NIGHT Athletics 3 Awareness 3 Dodge 4 Larceny 0 Stealth 0 ECLIPSE Bureaucracy 1 Linguistics 3 Ride 1 Sail 1 Socialize 1 Languages Native Language: Low Realm Old Realm Foresttongue Riverspeak Language 4 Language 5 Backgrounds Artifact 5: Essence Storage Gem Manse 4: CANDENT CARBUNCLE (+4L) Artifact 2: Plasma Tongue Repeater Artifact 2: Plasma Tongue Repeater Artifact 2: Discreet Essence Armor Artifact 1: Hearthstone Amulet Artifact 4: Gunbelt of the Solar Sentinal Manse of the Righteous Devil Gunbelt of the Solar Sentinel Charms Here you should list your Charms. Please format them using Sub-Heading Mark-up by the related Ability (or Attribute, for you darn Lunars), and use * Bullet Lists for the individual Charm. More asterisks give you sub-bullets and sub-sub bullets, so you may freely represent trees of charms with indented bullets. Please begin each entry with the name of the charm in question, then a slash, the cost, another slash and the page (if applicable), and (if the Charm comes from a book other than Exalted 2nd Edition) the book it came from. (Custom Charms should simply have “Custom” in place of the Page entry, and no Book entry at all.) General Charms *Second Archery Excellency (Core, 184) **Trance of Unhesitating Speed (Core, 187) **Essence Arrow Attack: Righteous Judgment Arrow (Core, 188) **There Is No Wind (Core, 187) **Infinite Archery Mastery (Core, 184) *Second Presence Excellency (Core, 184) *Second Martial Arts Excellency (Core, 184) *Second Lore Excellency (Core, 184) *Second Athletics Excellency (Core, 184) **Thunderbolt Attack Prana (Core, 223) *Shadow Over Water (Core, 227) **Seven Shadow Evasion (Core, 227) Righteous Devil Style *Kiss of the Sun Concentration (Scroll of the Monk, 101) *Blossom of Inevitable Demise Technique (Scroll of the Monk, 101) Combos *Righteous Devils Wrath(57m, 5WP Full): Second Martial Arts Excellency may be applied to any attack. Weapons Damage becomes 2x(Base+Ess+4). Attack is never at any penalties and weapons have a range of Sight. Post-soak damage is doubled. Magical Flurry of 4 attacks can be made immediately. **Second Martial Arts Excellency (Zero) **Essence Arrow Attack: Righteous Judgment Arrow (3m Per Attack) **Blossom of Inevitable Demise Technique (3m Per Attack) **There Is No Wind (5m Per Attack) **Seven Shadow Evasion (3m Total) **Thunderbolt Attack Prana (3m, 1WP Per Attack) **Trace of Unhesitating Speed (2m Per Attack) Charm Details No custom charms. Equipment Mundane Equipment Backpack of Adventurers Supplies (Provisions, rope, 10ft pole, etc) Robe Immaculate Martial Artists Robes Magical Equipment Plasma Tongue Repeater x2 Speed: 5, Acc: +3, Dmg: 11L(Piercing), Rate 2, Range: 20, Ammo: 5 Vital Information Willpower 6/6 Virtues Compassion (Primary) 3/3 Conviction 3/3 Temperance 1/1 Valor 2/2 Limit 1/10 Virtue Flaw Vigilance of the Solar Guardian Limit Condition: A loved one is threatened. Limit Break Effect: The solar will go to any length to protect their loved ones -- no matter how much it interferes with their lives. How this manifests depends on the Solars personality. For instance, a violent Solar will go on a brutal rampage, killing anyone who so much as looks at his loved ones funny. A more peaceful Solar would seclude his loved ones away where they couldn't be hurt -- no matter how much they object. Combat Statistics Defense Values Dodge DV Dodge DV: 6 Parry DV Parry DV: 5 Mental Dodge DV MDV: 5 Mental Parry DV MPV: 4 Soak Bashing Soak: 10(6) Lethal Soak: 8(4) Aggravated Soak: 7(3) Health ~0 [ ] ~1 [ ] [ ] ~2 [ ] [ ] ~4 [ ] Incapacitated [ ] Dying [ ] [ ] [ ] Essence 3; 15/15 60/60 Personal 15/15 Peripheral 36/36+35 Committed 11 Other Information Lore Advancement Plan: *32 XP Total *Lore 5 (9 XP) *Third Lore Excellency (8 XP) *Chaos Repelling Pattern (8 XP) *Wyld Shaping Technique (8 XP) Rightous Devil Style Advancement Plan: *60 XP Total *Instinctive Triumph of Martial Arts (8 XP) *Instinctive Triumph of Martial Arts (8 XP) *Lightning Draw Stance (8 XP) *Blessings of Righteous Solar Spark Meditation (8 XP) *Cloud of Ebon Devils (8 XP) *Righteous Devil Form (8 XP) *Perfected Kata Bracers (12 XP) Intimacies Tahi Yar (Positive) The Philosophy (Positive) Diamond Rose (Positive) Experience 4/87 Various OOC Notes Speaking Style: Only in Haiku/Koan's Epic Western Like a Terrestrial Monk Instinctive Triumph of Ability Cost: ---, Mins: Ability 4, Type: Permenant Keywords: None Duration: Permenant Prerequisite Charms: Ability Essence Flow Charms are charms -- but the heart of the Solar's shard is not magic or sorcerery, but a total moral certainty and feirce willpower. This determination to overcome any obstacle no matter the cost is aided by their powers, but is also the source of it, for power alone is not what makes an Exalt great. This charm enhances the core of the Solar's exaltation, letting them use their will to rise to new heights. When they stunt a roll of Ability all dice recieved for the stunt count as successes instead. They may purchase this charm a second time. Doing so causes them to recieve both willpower and motes for 2 and 3 dice stunts, instead of having to choose between them -- again, only for stunts of Ability. Koans "Even as a child, Pasip was very clever. His master had a teacup -- an ancient, prized thing of beauty. Pasip was always very careful with it, but he was called to fetch it many times, and inevitably one day, it broke. He went to his master with the pieces hidden in his pocket and asked him: "Master, why must all things eventually die?" To which his master answered "All things must die when their time comes. There is no need to rage or grieve at this, for it is the natural order. Pasip nodded, pulled our the shards and said: "It was your teacups time to die." A soldier named Nobushige came to Pasip, and asked: "Is there really a paradise and a hell?" "Who are you?" inquired Pasip. "I am a dragon warrior," the warrior replied. "You, a soldier!" exclaimed Pasip. "What kind of ruler would have you as his guard? Your face looks like that of a beggar." Nobushige became so angry that he began to draw his sword, but Pasip continued: "So you have a sword! Your weapon is probably much too dull to cut so much as grass. Farmers care for their tools better." As Nobushige drew his sword Pasip remarked: "Here open the gates of hell!" At these words the dragon warrior, perceiving the master's discipline, sheathed his sword and bowed. "Here open the gates of paradise," said Pasip. While Pasip was the master of Engaku in Thorns he required larger quarters, since those in which he was teaching were overcrowded. Umezu Seibei, a merchant of Edo, decided to donate five hundred pieces of gold called ryo toward the construction of a more commodious school. This money he brought to the teacher. Pasip said: "All right. I will take it." Umezu gave Pasip the sack of gold, but he was dissatisfied with the attitude of the teacher. One might live a whole year on three ryo, and the merchant had not even been thanked for five hundred. "In that sack are five hundred ryo," hinted Umezu. "You told me that before," replied Pasip. "Even if I am a wealthy merchant, five hundred ryo is a lot of money," said Umezu. "Do you want me to thank you for it?" asked Pasip. "You ought to," replied Uzemu. Why should I?" inquired Pasip. "The giver should be thankful." Psaip once had occasion to conspire with a small group of monks to engineer the overthrow of the heinously impious ruler of a small kingdom. When the king heard of the plot, he sent an investigator, who asked questions of the Monks, all of whom lied flawlesly, until they got to Psaip, who spoke calmly and quietly, saying that yes, they had a plan to overthrow the King, and he laid out the full details of the overthrow, which was to take place that night. When he was finished, the incredulous investigator yelled at the monks for wasting his time and went to investigate the local merchants. Everybody was surprised when the overthrow of the King took place exactly as he had detailed, and worked flawlessly. One should always tell the truth. If one tells the truth so honestly that no-one believes you, that is not your fault. Music Kitsune stood upon the road, her tail full and high, By her came a wanderer, a jade sword at his thigh, "Why do you sit there, lady fair, all in your fur of red? By tomorrow's dawn I swear, I'll have your maidenhead." Oh bide lady bide, There's nowhere you can hide, For you've met the dragon on the road, And he will have your pride. "Away away, you wanderer, from far across the sea, Your dragon monks may think you master, but you shall not master me, I'd rather lie in oceans cold, all weighted down with rocks, And so I swear on Luna now, you'll never out-fox the fox." Oh bide lady bide, There's nowhere you can hide, For you've met the dragon on the road, And he will have your pride. So Kitsune she put up her hand, and swore upon the Moon and Sun, That he'd not have her maidenhead, by the time the day was done. And the wanderer, he put up his hand, and swore to Gaia there and then, That he would have her maidenhead, then have it once again. Oh bide lady bide, There's nowhere you can hide, For you've met the dragon on the road, And he will have your pride. So Kitsune she became a fox, with feral teeth and claws, But he's become a hunting hound, and trapped her in his jaws. And Kitsune she's become a bird, flying on the wind, But he's become a summers breeze, and blows her back again. Oh bide lady bide, There's nowhere you can hide, For you've met the dragon on the road, And he will have your pride. And Kitsune she's become a stone, and on the ground she's set, But he's become a river, and she's covered deep and wet. And Kitsune she's become a tree, with strong limbs to and fro, But he's become an axeman, and his tool has laid her low. Oh bide lady bide, There's nowhere you can hide, For you've met the dragon on the road, And he will have your pride. And Kitsune became a Solar's scabbard, all gleaming, black and gilt, But he's become a katana, sheathed inside her too the hilt. And she realized to her chagrin, the limits of her lore, So she reached out too her faerie kin, for options more and more. Oh bide lady bide, There's nowhere you can hide, For you've met the dragon on the road, And he will have your pride. And Kitsune changed into a stayr, with fleece all thick and black, But he became a bottle of wine, and had her on her back. And Kitsune became a faerie dragon, all magic, claws, and fire, But he became a lava flow, to stoke her ever higher. Oh bide lady bide, There's nowhere you can hide, For you've met the dragon on the road, And he will have your pride. And the wanderer chased her all the day, and into the night so late, And every change, Kitsune made, the wanderer was her mate. Oh bide lady bide, There's nowhere you can hide, For you've met the dragon on the road, And he will have your pride. Then the fox, she stopped and turned and said, "The game I will concede, For none would chase me for so long for simple foolish need. And none has ever sought me, with a passion like your own, If you will truly love me, and you'll never be alone." Oh bide lady bide, There's nowhere you can hide, For you've met the dragon on the road, And he will have your pride. And the wanderer said, "There's never been, a prize more worth the race, But I must admit, I'm glad we stopped, I can't keep up this pace." And Kitsune and her wanderer, have traveled far and wide, For she met the dragon, on the road, and both of them swallowed their pride. Song #193 Heart of Fire (Proposed, Rejected) (Manse's for later: http://rpg.wikia.com/wiki/Category:LDDD_Manses) Explosive Ammunition Method Requirements: Essence 3, Archery 5 Preqs: Essence Arrow Attack Cost: 10m, 0WP Effect: This charm allows the solar to enhance a round of ammunition – it can be a bullet, firepowder, artillery round, arrow, crossbow bolt, any archery weapon. The new artillery round explodes on impact when fired, increasing the weapons base damage by 3 and making it deal aggravated damage against creatures of darkness. The solar can have a number of rounds so enhanced at any one time equal to twice his permanent Essence. Handheld Artillery Meditation Requirements: Essence 3, Archery 5 Preqs: Explosive Ammunition Method Cost: 20m, 1WP Effect: This charm allows a solar to further enhance his ammunitions explosive power. By the use of this charm, any one round already enhanced by the Explosive Ammunition Method may be further upgraded to turn it into a devastating impact bomb. This weapons great area of effect allows it to rip through massed troops with devastating effectiveness. When used in mass combat, rounds enhanced with the Handheld Artillery Mediation enhance their weapons base damage by the magnitude of the unit they are being used to fire upon – massed troops are more vulnerable to the blast. Duri Grey Wolf's Stunts Category:Grey Wolf Category:CotUS Category:CotUS PC